Much as I want to use that tired old line
"there's no such thing as a stupid question" I just can't!
Truth is...there ARE stupid questions out there and I certainly get my
share!
Now to be fair, most folks simply don't know how renewable energy works
and it's up to folks like me
to help educate them. We were all there at one time and a little
tolerance and patience goes a long way
when educating the public. I actually enjoy teaching folks how this
stuff works, otherwise I wouldn't give
over 35 presentations each year. But some people manage to cross that
invisible line.......
Why can't I put my solar array inside
my barn? And why couldn't the wind turbine go there too?
Can I run a fan off my batteries to
make my turbine spin to
charge the batteries when there's no wind?
I have some classic answers for these that I may post at a later
date....
E.W.....thanks for getting me
started on this!
"Sometimes
I sits and thinks and sometimes I just sits"
Contrary
to popular belief, I do not suffer from insanity....
truth is, I enjoy every minute of
it!
I want to sound off about something that
really bugs me....people who want to install a wind turbine on
the roof of their home. It's an incredibly bad idea! Will it work?
Yes.....but not very well. And even if it
never damages your roof, it will NOT produce much power. How do I know?
What makes me such an expert???
I installed a small turbine on a 10'
mast on my roof about 10 years ago. No, I didn't know any better and
yes, it came down...about 1 year later in an 86 mph wind gust...because
the roof was not designed to handle
the stresses unique to wind turbines. It also never produced more than
about 20% of what it should have
if it had been installed correctly....on a nice tall tower. We did sort
of like the sound of "free energy"
coursing through the building's framing and we really appreciated the way it
removed 100 square feet of
shingles and 1 sheet of 5/8 plywood decking...but I digress.
So, to clarify my original statement
....what really bugs me are the people who still want to try it even
when
they know it hasn't worked well for anyone else! So I say....if you
figure out a way to change the laws of physics...the same ones that
govern the wind, then go for it! Otherwise, put that thing on a tower,
well above obstructions where the wind turbine fuel lives!
If
you really do learn from your mistakes, I should be the smartest guy
around!
